How The Marauders Met
by Freddie Weasley
Summary: This is a collaboration short story that my friend and I wrote about the Marauders and how they initially met from our perspective . We hope you enjoy it:


HOW THE MARAUDERS MET

Summer was almost over, and everybody could feel the school year approaching fast. Summer time always went too quickly, and there never seemed to be enough time to do everything. But Sirius knew had had a week or so left, so he decided to make the most of his last week of freedom before he was a first year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He met with James in a local muggle park (it's a children's play area where they had apparatus and structures designed for the entertainment and enjoyment of young muggles). They would fly high on the swings and shuffle their way down the slides on their feet (they were too big to slide down the normal way). It was in one of those last, hot summer days that James and Sirius would really talk, like mate-to-mate. James and Sirius had been best friends since they were young, very young. They had grown up together and they knew everything about each other. Sirius was a rebellious child that hardly ever followed any rules. James was more of a troublemaking child, but not as extreme as Sirius. Sirius' mother unfairly blamed the Potter's as the cause of her son's rebellious streak.

"Hey, James"

Sirius called hanging from the monkey bars

"When are you going to get a girlfriend? Or-"

"When am I- You can talk, Sirius. I've never even seen you look at girl before" James interrupted.

"Not true. I look at my mother all the time." Sirius smirked. He quite clearly thought he was very witty.

"Ha-ha, very clever. We haven't started at Hogwarts yet, so we'll see."

James was worried he was never going to get a girl anyway, without Sirius rubbing it in all the time. James had considered if Sirius was gay at one point. He never discussed it with him though, because he did not want to offend him.

It became very hot towards the end of the day, so Sirius decided it would be a good idea to take his top off. James felt slightly uncomfortable by this fact at first, but then he remembered when he skinny dipped in the lake at the end of his garden the other day. He would have joined him, but it would have been pointless. Sirius had always been the better looking one; even a straight guy could see it. As they walked down the road, back to James', they pushed and shoved each other into varies obstacles. In doing this they attracted a lot of female attention, well Sirius did. Even though they were giggling and pointing at him, he didn't notice. I mean, if they had been pointing at James, he would have smiled and tried to look cool. But not Sirius, he just carried on. James wondered when Sirius would start taking things a little more seriously. He thought it was ironic, considering his name.

"Look, about this female attention, if you want I'll shout loudly that I'm gay, maybe then you stop looking so depressed?" Sirius offered.

He obviously saw James thinking about what Sirius just said. Was he really being that obvious? At any length, James was forced to consider that fact. But then, if Sirius shouted that out loud, they may think James too to be gay.

"No, it's fine. Let's just turn the corner and head for the fields. Yeah?"

James felt no better. He knew it would be a struggle to get Lily's girl to like him. But to then have Sirius turn down the attention made the whole situation worse.

Meanwhile, under a tree deep in a forest by a vast, still lake, Severus and Lily sat talking about their excitement for the upcoming year, their first year. Lily is a muggle born child, and Severus is a half blood. His mother is the witch Eileen Prince and his father is muggle Tobias Snape. Lily has a sister, Petunia, who despises the fact that she is becoming a witch. Her parents however were very proud of this fact, which did bring much comfort to young Lily. Lily and Snape had been friends for a while now. They first met before the end of the previous muggle school year, when Lily ran off after she was being tormented by her sister, because she enjoyed learning and reading to her heart's content. This had upset Lily a great deal. She was crying under the very tree in which they sat under now, and out of frustration she started to make the water in the lake boil. She was shocked by the power she seemed to have. Severus was approaching behind her. She turned to see him looking at what she was doing to the water in utter amazement. Lily began to worry that she would scare him off or worse, he would tell others about he. So she started to get up to leave. He stopped her and explained that she was a witch, a very talented one, and he taught her all about witchcraft and wizardry. This was the beginnings of Lily's ambition to become a witch. Since then they have been the best of friends, and they rarely left each other's side.  
"So, Lily, what house do you want to be sorted into?"  
"Well, Hufflepuff have the coolest badge ever, but I think Gryffindor is more to my personality I think. How about you?"

"Wherever you go that's where I want to be"  
The smile that was apparent on his face at the end of the sentence spread from ear to ear. He had fancied Lily ever since they first met. She the most beautiful, flowing hair and the most dazzling eyes he had ever seen. He now believed he was truly in love with Lily, but he did not think she returned these deep, meaningful feelings. Severus was fine with this, as long as Lily didn't hate him.  
"Well that settles it, we shall grow to be witch and wizard together then"  
She beamed at the end of her sentence and she leant on his shoulder. He put his arm around her, to him a symbol of his affection, to her a symbol of friendship. Although she loved these moments, they weren't quite what they seemed and despite their close relationship, this could never be resolved. These moments of true friendship flowing through helped Lily to distract her mind from all the terrible things happening elsewhere in her mind.

As Lily loved the moment she was in, Remus hated his. He had just been through a particularly difficult full moon. He was full of such rage and anger when he turned, but he had did not have anything or anyone to take these animalistic urges out on. And as a result of this cruel situation, he had to turn on himself. When he turned he was not in the right frame of mind; he knew not who he was or where he was. He was completely engulfed by his werewolf side and he knew not how to control it. No-one did. His parents were intent on finding a cure, but Remus knew he was in it for life. Because of these events, Remus had no friends. Not because they knew, but because if they found out, well, it would be disastrous. Surprisingly, Remus had also been accepted into Hogwarts. After the family received the Hogwarts letter, they felt as if they had no choice but to reject the offer – he was a werewolf! When Remus himself wrote back to Hogwarts, he stated that he was a werewolf. However, Dumbledore felt it was his duty to give Remus an education and to help him through the struggles of being a werewolf. Remus was shocked when he found out, but very happy. He thought might make some friends who accepted him for who was. He wasn't hopeful though. He was just looking forward to learning witchcraft and wizardry, hopeful he might find a potion or spell that enabled him to keep his human mind during transformation. That was the day that Remus hoped would come.

The next day, Remus walked through front door after being out to get some air. His father ran towards him.  
"Remus, we think we have found a spell that can help you through your transformations"

Remus grimaced at the term "transformations"; it really showed how he changed during full moons.

And he hated it.

He cursed Fenrir Greyback for biting him when he was young. He had never found the reason for him biting him, but surely no reason could be good enough to bite and infant, he thought bitterly. He tries to distract himself from the possibility that he may do the same to some innocent infant with the hopes and prospects for the future. It was daunting to think, for him, that if he were to be around people during a full moon he could curse them for life, he could take away their future and replace it with hell! The thought of giving someone the life and hell that he has been going through shook him to his core. He thought had no prospects for the future, not while he was a werewolf. He was waiting for an explanation from Dumbledore about where his transformations would take place, as he was confused as to how he would hide it from the other students attending school.

Peter was in food heaven, while Remus was fretting about his furry little problem. He literally had a small mountain of food, and he felt obligated to eat the stack in his bedroom. Ice creams, chocolates, crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks – and they are just the main components that made up this extremely fattening pile of treats. He eyed the mound of food and drinks hungrily; trying to decide what on earth he was to eat first. He was already starting to drool at the sight of it all.  
Just a mere hour later, the mound had almost been demolished – all the ice cream had been eaten, most of the chocolate and crisps had been eaten and most of the fizzy drinks had been drunk. Had one have watched him engulf this monstrosity, he would have resembled that of a grotesque worm working its way through a heap of compost, such was the speed of which he guzzled and chomped. His shirt was covered in all the debris left behind from the worm-like devouring of the food and drink, the shirt itself struggling to hold in the fatty deposits that was expanded his stomach and chest. His face was covered in chocolate and stray bits of crisp, all glazed over and shiny looking due to the splashing of sugary drinks.

His mother was the only thing that stopped his gorging, which happened another hour later, by which time the pile had been completely eaten. Peter was sitting in the centre of the room, his fat stomach protruding from his already-under-pressure shirt; his shorts were ripping at the waist from his bulging thighs and his face looked even messier than what it looked like before. His mother scolded him for being greedy enough to devour the entire treats pile and he was ordered to smarten himself up immediately – as they had visitors. She was furious at him for forgetting that the visitor had slipped Peter's mind, the visitor was that of great importance to her.

Peter heaved himself up using the edge of his already creaky and breaking bed and waddled to the bathroom to smarten him up. He got changed into food-stain-free clothes and shuffled his way to the living room, panting slightly with the effort. He lowered himself slowly into his favourite spot on the sofa and fell backwards with the force of his weight, the sofa sagging alarmingly under his considerable weight. He was already moody about leaving his companions behind – the companions he had didn't make you do this, that and the other for them immediately; his companions didn't bore him out of his mind like this did, his companions didn't pressure into doing stupid things or bully you like the muggle kids did. He liked his companions.

He daydreamed throughout the entire time the visitor was droning on about how some old, rich relative died and left them all their gold (it really was a lot). One would understand Peter's boredom if one was to also be present in what was happening in his living room at that point in time – the man was almost completely grey and spoke with the most boring, monotonous voice imaginable.  
Peter was immersed in his daydream to the point where his mother had to practically pull him up, up and out of his corner, after the will-reader had left. He hadn't quite got his mind back when his mother was off, shouting some garbled language at Peter, leaving him very confused, standing in the hallway, not knowing what to do and not understanding what had just happened.

Peter woke up considerably early on September 1st; his parents thought it was a good idea to get to the train station early so he was to obtain a seat easier. Unfortunately, Peter's gluttony in the morning and his parents willingness to let the boy walk over them caused them to arrive at King's Cross at 10:55, a mere 5 minutes till the Hogwarts Express was due to leave. The three of them were in such a hurry, that caring if the muggles saw them was not an important issue – they had to get their "little" boy onto that train before 11 o'clock! The brick wall barrier put up no resistance, which was surprising considering Peter's size, as all three of them took off at a rapid pace towards the brick wall. Peter was panting through the effort of waddling as fast as he could up to and through the barrier. His large father, who he resembled in a way like no other father and son, practically threw his son's trunk onto the train as the conductor blew the whistle, leaving Peter to frantically waddle after his trunk. He got to it just before the conductors locked the doors, signalling the train's departure from the platform. There was a tiny window he squeezed his oversized head through so he was to bid a farewell to his parents. He had to make this farewell count; he wasn't going to be seeing his parents until the Christmas holiday arrived.  
_

Sirius, James and their families arrived together half an hour before Peters' arrival. Their trolleys were full with their owls (Sirius insisted for an albino tawny that cost double the price of its peers, while James had opted for a more conventional caramel coloured barn owl) and their large trunks.

Sirius and James were being their typical boyish selves and started to play fight on the station while their parents went off to talk to the other parents, this was their opportunity to get to know other wizarding families, and they weren't about to let it pass. Sirius enjoyed it when it was him and James, but it could become tiresome. He looked around for someone to talk to, someone close to their age. But he fell short, unsurprisingly. Nobody arrived this early on their first Hogwarts Express journey. The train pulled up, and Sirius and James jumped on lugging their belongings behind them. They grabbed the nearest compartment and set downs their trunks and owls, surely no one else would come in when someone else's stuff was in there. They then went back to their parents to bid them a farewell; they doubted they would be back after they had sat down. On their way back to their compartment, they bumped into a tall, dark-haired boy, who looked extremely nervous.  
"Alright, mate! Watch it!" Sirius was deliberately being rude. This made James feel uncomfortable, especially as he didn't have a good reason to be rude.  
"Sorry." The boy replied, it was barely a whisper.  
"Pardon, can't quite hear you?" Sirius was mocking him, and this caused tension to build between the two of them.  
"I said sorry, ok?" The boy spoke, a bit louder this time.  
"Look, sorry for my friend's rudeness. I'm James, this is Sirius. Would you like to join us or are you sitting with others?" James felt bad for him, Sirius could be very intimidating. And he was also attempting to defuse the tension.  
"I'm Remus, I don't know anybody else here" He whimpered at the end of his sentence. This was curious to both Sirius and James.  
"Well, that settles it. You go grab your stuff and come join us" James tried to sound optimistic, but he wasn't hopeful that he succeeded.

When Remus returned, there was an awkward silence that lingered in the air for a few minutes. Every breath was heard, every leaf rustling was a loud and significant noise that filled the silence that was between the three of them. Tension built as Sirius looked to James, who looked to Remus, who looked longingly out the window, hoping for something that might excuse him from the madness which was sure to unfold around him at any moment. The train carriage was hot, very hot. Sweat started to run down the side of Remus' face, which he wiped away with the sleeve of his dull gray, stained woollen jumper. The tension was making him nervous, and he decided he had had enough. He was going to be the person to break the ice.  
"So, what house do you want to be sorted into?" It was the first question that came to mind. Remus felt a bit nerdy for asking.  
James looked Sirius. Sirius looked at James.  
"Gryffindor" They said together. They had the same tone of voice. Same loudness as they spoke. Same smirk as they said it. You could tell these two were best friends, even if you didn't know who they were. They all erupted with laughter at their similarities, and how they both knew what the other thought without speaking a word. When the laughter calmed down they carried on their conversation.  
"So, where do you want to be placed then, Remus?" James asked as he was wiping his eye from the tears of laughter.  
"Anywhere but Slytherin, to be honest. Not too keen on that idea!" He giggled nervously at the end of his sentence.  
"I don't think anyone would opt willingly for Slytherin unless you want to become a Death Eater" Sirius made a gnawing motion after he finished. A tall, pale boy with long bright white hair walked past as he said that.  
"Well, maybe he would." James said with a very serious face. They all erupted with laughter; he fitted the Death Eater description perfectly.  
Remus realized he had relaxed around the two boys, like they known each other for years. _

Peter was not enjoying his train ride at all. He had got into the first compartment he saw with a space in it. The occupants freaked him out; they were a lot older, bigger and more knowledgeable in magic than he was. They all had had a Slytherin object of some description with them, despite none of them had changed into their school robes yet. They were talking about how "mudbloods" were the scum of the earth and how pure-bloods should rule the worlds of magic and non-magic. He was not really paying attention to them as he found that kind of talk boring yet mind-boggling; how could a few wizards rule over so many people without being challenged?

He was staring out of the windows for hours, watching the scenery gradually change to smallish, rolling hills, especially noticing how colourful it looked, when he was snapped out of his reverie when the witch with the trolley of food arrived. He bought several pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes and was returning to his seat when one of the older students in the compartment stuck his leg out. Peter slammed into the floor face first, his food scattering everywhere. As Peter got up, he "accidently" kicked the Slytherin as hard as he could. The older boy grunted in pain.

Peter went out looking for another train compartment as he thought it best to leave the one he was being bullied in. He went all along the train, dragging his trunk behind him which seemed to get heavier the longer he dragged it. He reached the compartment that James, Sirius and Remus was in.

"Hi, I'm Peter" he said to the other boys, who looked shocked that this intruder would have the nerve to speak to them.

"I am James" James said. He pointed to Remus and Sirius and introduced them to Peter, before they could introduce themselves to the newcomer.

"Well, aren't you gonna sit down then? It's not like its packed in here." Sirius said rather sarcastically. _

As they got off the train, they could see a tall, lean man looking their way. His face was mean and menacing; he had an angry aura about him. Being first years, the four of them didn't know what to do. So they approached the tall, mean looking man, hoping to find some answers as to the direction they must take to get to school. Just the were approaching him he shouted considerably loudly:  
"All first years follow me. Now"  
His face was expressionless and appeared to contain no life. The four boys looked at one another, searching for something to say. They came up short, so decided to follow him to see where they we headed. He cast a long shadow over all the first years as they walked through the moonlight, approaching a lake. A low whisper started, questioning the course they were taking to reach the school.  
"Are we swimming to the grounds?"  
"I'm not swimming, these robes are brand new. I will not have them ruined"  
"Are we flying?"  
"I can't see boats, why can't I see boats?"  
"Right, you horrible lot; to the left of us are the boats we will be using to cross the lake to the castle. A maximum of 4 people per boat, if I see any of you bickering as to which boat you will be in, you shall be caned. Right, now get in." His face took on a cruel sense of glee as he said the word "caned".  
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter climbed into a boat without a word. A rather large child tried to get in, but before he could, the boat started to move. A sense of relief filled the four of them; he would have made the boat sink.  
The boats took a steady pace as the floated along the surface of the vast, deep lake that lead them to Hogwarts. The castles reflection was monstrous shadow over all the students, it enveloped them in darkness. Every student found the boats magical, even the pure bloods that had surely come across magic before were stunned in silence as the approached what was soon to be their home. Most rooms in the castle had their lights on, but very dim. The towers lights weren't visibly on and the rooms furthest up the castle were jet black. They reached the edge of lake in no time at all and found that they had already transported their belongings to the castle. They grabbed their trunks and headed straight for the ground, passing many strange looking statues on their way. The castle was intimidating and cast a striking blackness across the group of first years. James and Sirius began to feel out of place, as if they were intruders to a home.

The interior of the castle was stunning. It had hundreds upon hundreds of portraits and paintings, grey, cold stone walls that seemed to never end and high arched ceilings. Sirius began to feel smaller and smaller as he made his way through the castle, unsure of his destination. He looked to the side, looking directly at James' astonished face.  
"Where do you think we're going?" James looked both shocked and worried.  
"God, Sirius. Did you not read anything about Hogwarts, like at all?"  
"Was I supposed to?"  
"Well, it may have prepared you a little. We're headed for the sorting ceremony, its Hogwarts tradition."  
Sirius was delighted by the fact that he would not have to wait to see what house he was going to be sorted to. James knew Sirius wanted to be put in Gryffindor; it suited Sirius' personality so perfectly. James on the other hand didn't mind too much which house, apart from Slytherin. None of his family has been in Slytherin, so he hoped he would follow in their footsteps. But the fear was still there, however miniscule it was, it was there. There was a crisp silence as they entered the Great Hall. A sea of students was seated at long tables, dressed in their Hogwarts robes. Every footstep was heard as they travelled in a hurried bundle to where they were to be sorted into their houses. The Sorting Hat was placed upon a stool in front of the headmaster's place at the professors table, and in front of the whole school. James suddenly felt a wave of nerves that he struggled to control, whilst Sirius was bouncing off the walls with excitement. The Headmaster rose from his seat and read out "James Potter. Please take your place to be sorted into a Hogwarts House". This is the moment that James had been dreading, and there was no escaping it.

7


End file.
